The Morehead State women's basketball team was nearly flawless at the free throw line Monday night (Jan. 26) at Tennessee Tech, hitting 22-of-23, and that helped lead to a 64-54 victory over the Golden Eagles at the Eblen Center.
Morehead State, now 9-12 overall and 5-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference, connected on its first 22 free throws before finally misfiring with 53 seconds left. Tech fell to 5-17 overall and 2-7 in the league.
"I was pleased with our effort tonight," Head Coach Greg Todd said. "We played consistently, and I thought we played hard throughout. About the only thing we didn't do very well was take care of the basketball."
MSU committed 20 turnovers, but turned TTU over 21 times. The home team hit just 4-of-6 at the free throw line.
"We felt like we could be aggressive and take the ball to the basket," Todd added. "We practice free throws quite a bit, and tonight practice paid off."
MSU led for nearly the entire contest (36:22), with Tech's only cushion being 4-2 in the first two minutes.
Senior guard Almesha Jones led the Eagles with 19 points and also contributed seven assists, six rebounds and three steals. Senior forward Casey Ryans recorded her second double-double of the season (10 points, 12 rebounds).
MSU also got a 14-point, eight-rebound line from freshman Eriel McKee, while sophomore forward Shay Steele netted 10 points.
Samaria Howard led all players with 22 points, while TTU forward T'Keyah Williams registered a double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
The Eagles led by as many as 19 in the middle of the second half, and TTU never trimmed the MSU cushion below double-digits in the final 10 minutes.
Morehead State finished at 39 percent (20-of-51) from the floor while limiting Tech to just 36 percent (24-of-66).
MSU hosts Eastern Kentucky Saturday at 2 p.m. As part of a doubleheader with the MSU men, it will be a "Gold Rush" day. The first 250 fans at each game will receive gold rush t-shirts sponsored by St. Claire Regional Medical Center.
